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Leo

Yesterday pretty much went more or less as expected. Leo had replaced the inn's showers, added a more precise temperature control, and gave Kesl a bunch of newly enchanted kitchen items, but he had to add many more safety features after an incident involving his attempt to create a toaster of all things.

The damned thing nearly burned his eyebrows off when it spewed fire like a pseudo flame thrower, the launching mechanism for the toast somehow fucked with no clear explanation as to why.

It repeated itself no matter how he tried to alter the layout or runes involved, which reminded him of having to deal with a bug in a coding engine. The prospect that the runes could have little bugged interactions like that, both fascinated and utterly terrified him at the same time.

‘God help me if I somehow create a stack overflow…’ He thought as he sat on the field just outside the gate while hunched over his iron pipe.

Since his schedule was clear for the day, he decided to use most of it working on the runic system for the magic gun. He chose to conduct his experiments at the field, which had just become the de facto testing site until his home was built. Unfortunately, he hit a few very irritating roadblocks when trying to get the gun to work smoothly.

Allis let out a sigh as she slithered around him. “So are you going to show me this spell or not, because you've been enchanting that thing for, what, over an hour now?” She asked with a very bored tone tinged with a mild condescension.

It was a struggle not to snap back while he scowled at the pipe, very much upset with how his progress on a weapon prototype was going. “Yeah, so much for just five runes…” He grumbled irritably.

When the overly optimistic human attempted to simply put the formula for his bullet spell with a trigger onto the pipe, it just yanked itself from his hand. So he had to create an entire system to only affect what was put into it, but then a rock wedged itself inside. So he made the surface frictionless, which should also help with any lost kinetic energy, but it instead prompted him to yell a bunch of expletives when the pipe slipped out of his hands and slid away from him.

After solving that problem, he realized the pipe was a bit unruly to aim with, so he attempted to use gravity runes on it. The result was that the pipe flung itself into the sky, but luckily he put a timer on deactivating the runes just in case. So now he was attempting to figure out a method of lessening the gravity runes effect.

With narrowed eyes he picked up the crappy metal barrel and slipped into thought. ‘The rune is pushing a set and constant amount of mana against gravity, so… Damn it, I need to know what mana is if I ever want to do anything with it… I could attempt to manipulate the wave itself, but fuck me if that's not asking for trouble. Being able to feel the push and pull of mana on gravity is one thing, leaving it up to hard set triggers with no idea how the runes would interact… Yeah, no. I don't feel like accidentally creating a black hole if runes can be bugged.’

He removed all of the runes from the pipe after clicking his tongue, then carelessly flung the disappointment over his shoulder. “I wanted to show you something resembling a working model, but it seems that isn't happening today.”

Allis crossed her arms and looked a little smug. “I told you that you'd be setting yourself up for failure.” She remarked pointedly, but apologized for the slip up in attitude.

Leo smirked, happy that she was at least putting in the effort to correct her attitude. “You can fail a hundred thousand times, but you only need to succeed once.” He reiterated the random quote that he possibly heard somewhere online.

She rolled her eyes. “If it doesn't end up killing you.”

He was about to retort, but remembered most of the discoveries made by humanity were near fatal more often than not. “You have no idea... Anyway, I'd like you to construct a mana shield in front of that tree, a two foot square should suffice. Make it as dense and thick as you can, and hold off your mana from actively repairing it, because I want to give you a peak at the potential scale of damage that I can work with.”

One of his spells caused a rock the size of a baseball to float about three feet off the ground, then he hurriedly positioned himself an Allis at the edge of her ability to maintain the mana shield. He also created a large colorless mana shield wall of his own to protect the both of them from what was inevitably about to happen.

The unsuspecting selarin mage eyed him incredulously. “Is all this really necessary? It's just a rock…” She only received a simple smile and a gesture for her to pay attention.

After a dramatic countdown from ten, there was a sound shattering crack, followed by a short whistle and the sound of multiple instant thuds.

Even though the former resident of earth held life sacred, he couldn't help but smile a smile that only a connoisseur of the most overly destructive weapons could appreciate.

The devastation in front of him was more or less what he assumed a baseball going Mach-fuck you at close to point blank would do to a tree line.

Even though the projectile floated about three feet off the ground, there was a two foot indentation from the shockwave in which all the surrounding grass in a ten foot radius from that practically vanished. A line started to cone inward from the point of departure that stretched into the tree line, being visible by the kicked up dirt, assumedly from the pressure force that trailed around the baseball sized projectile.

And while its initial start was something to behold, it was completely overshadowed by the dozens of knocked down trees that stretched into the forest.

It turned out that the request for Allis to hold off on repairing her mana shield was unnecessary, because it was just gone, as was the tree behind it.

The large trunk had fallen over, as it could no longer support itself with the nearly two foot hole that was made by the rock. The scene behind the first tree was more or less the same, only that the holes started decreasing in size until the rock appeared to have embedded itself into the base of its last victim, which tilted the tree slightly forward.

‘Safe to say I have mastered destruction one hundred, considering what else I could do, but this is more like five, tops.’ It was a surprisingly casual thought that contrasted heavily to the devastation in question, while Allis had a more appropriate reaction with an expression that made the word shock seem tame.

A few minutes of silence eventually stretched on into just being awkward. “Uh, Allis? You okay there?” He asked a bit hesitantly.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The almost shell shocked mage tilted her head slightly toward him, but couldn't take her eyes off the destruction. “This...This is how you can kill a dragon…” There was both awe and fear in her tone.

“Well, it's one of my least destructive methods, but yes.”

Allis's eyes somehow grew wider as they darted to regard Leo directly. “LEAST?! That makes our siege spells look like a fucking joke, and your telling me that's not even the worst you could do?! I mean arch mages could use terra magic to move mountains, but that takes literal years! Wait, how much mana did that even cost you?!”

The question made him play with the end of his scarf, becoming a bit sheepish and hesitant to answer. “Ehhh… If I'm using the sandwich analogy…then I'd say a nibble.”

Allis's jaw dropped. “A nibble?! How did you maintain that speed and power?!” She demanded.

Leo was about to explain his work around by simply snapping the spell in place for only an instant, which required his basic knowledge on physics, but paused, realizing that may not be the best idea. “Allis, let's just say that I tell you. Do you really want to know how to wield that kind of power? And if so, are you yourself comfortable with sharing that kind of power?”

She glanced between him and the tree line. “Honestly? Yes to the first and no to the second, so please don't tell me.”

“Proud of you for your honesty, as well as the rejection.” He commended with a pat on the back and genuine pride, but was more than likely not going to tell her anyway, because he didn't quite trust her much less anyone else with that kind of power, even himself.

A concerned expression slipped onto the selarin's visage before she turned to him with a horrified look. “So wait, you're going to make that metal pipe, do that?!”

Leo's brow arched as he was a bit taken aback by the question. “Oh hell no! But the speed will be close to ten to fifteen times faster than an arrow, that’ll send a small dense object that's about the size of a pebble through damn near anyone, and from very far away mind you.”

Allis was visibly speechless as her head tilted around in thought. “You… That… Does your world still even use melee weapons?”

“Nope. Well, combat knives, but we mostly use semi mechanical weapons that can pretty much do what I just did to varying degrees.” He answered candidly.

Allis looked back to the tree line. “That's some terrifying power…” She remarked nervously, causing him to furrow his brow while holding back a wince.

‘Best not to tell her about nukes anytime soon…’

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Glia

Glia was sitting back at the gate with Elaria while the two mages experimented with magic off in the distance. As they waited for them to finish, Elaria told Glia what happened at the merchant's guild.

Elaria was a bit confused at Glia's priorities, since the obsidian scaled selarin was more surprised by the fact that she could now ask the newly minted lord for a job so soon, rather than the trade deal itself.

The amber eyed woman gave Glia a critical look. “Seriously, that's what you're more surprised about…?” She remarked with a judgmental tone.

Glia rolled her own eyes, not sure what was supposed to be so shocking about it. “Elaria, he's an arch mage. I may not believe all the rumors, but becoming a lord would probably be at the bottom of what he should be able to do. Sure I'm a little amazed that it happened so soon, but it was going to happen. I'm also not surprised that he made that much gold, since he was trading that item. And...could you maybe put in a good word for me, because I really hate this posting.” She ended hopefully, but truthfully didn't actually hate her position and only wanted a quick pay raise for doing essentially the same thing.

Elaria turned to look at Leo in the distance as she smiled warmly. “No need, knowing him he'll definitely say yes if you ask.”

Glia raised a questioning eyebrow and was about to say something before her words caught in her throat. Her friend was looking across the field with a genuinely warm expression, eyes shone in a certain brightness that paired perfectly with her smile. Glia had never seen her look like that before, and the sight of it pulled on her heart.

When she had first met the green scaled woman in basic training, Elaria was very distant and almost drained of the will to live. Glia wasn't ignorant of all the fucked up shit that happens in the world, but she'd be damned if it stopped her from enjoying life. Seeing someone like Elaria act nearly robotic with people while completely isolating herself, really got under her scales.

So Glia did what any impulsively blunt extrovert does, crash into her life with complete disregard for social etiquette, and it worked out, for the most part. She showed her that life could be fun and enjoyable, dragging her to parties and nearby festivals. She also showed her that skirting some rules didn't mean a death sentence, and could lead to some new and exciting moments. And as time went on, she got to see her new best friend start to open up, relax, and enjoy living.

But even though Glia introduced Elaria to many physical pleasures, she never once figured out how to go about showing her how to be more emotionally involved. So at some point Glia felt like she hit a wall with her, because she could never seem to get Elaria to dig any deeper than just below the surface.

It was like something special was missing, a connection that didn't seem to quite reach, and every time Glia noticed this, she somehow felt like she failed her. One of the only regrets she's carried since befriending her was that she gave up trying to help, and it has been the one nagging guilt that weighed heavily on her conscience.

Looking at Elaria at this very moment though, seeing the way she watched Leo out on the field, Glia could definitely tell that she went far deeper than she'd ever been.

Glia was at a loss for words by the sight, and she quickly turned her head away from Elaria when she started to tear up, but the woman seemed to take notice. “Glia, what's wrong?” She asked with a tinge of genuine concern, and Glia couldn't help but glance back to her, because she seemed genuinely concerned and a bit confused at the sudden show of emotions.

“It's nothing Elaria, just remembered… Something.” She smiled a bit and let out a half hearted laugh.

Elaria's face fell deeper into concern as she continued to stare at her, but then it was replaced by a hard look of determination as she shifted over to pull her into a close hug. It took a moment for Glia to process what Elaria was doing, but then she started to cry happily into her shoulder.

“You tried to show me, didn't you? …” She asked softly while tightening her embrace.

Glia sobbed into Elaria's shoulder. “I'm so sorry for giving up. I just didn't know what to do… How to show someone… How to show you...”

Elaria balled at the back of Glia's clothes. “You shouldn't feel...” She trailed off for a few moments before continuing. “I forgive you Glia, and thank you for getting me as far as you could. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you.” She finished, and Glia could hear her start to weep.

Glia felt a small guilty weight vanish as she continued to hold on to Elaria, her one long regret finally resolved.

‘Thank you Leo.’

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